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Bits of Freedom

We are Bits of Freedom. Bits of Freedom is the leading digital rights organization in the Netherlands, focusing on privacy and freedom of communication online. Working at the cutting edge of technology and law, Bits of Freedom strives to influence legislation and self-regulation, and empower citizens and users by advancing the awareness, use, and development of freedom-enhancing technologies.

 

 

 

Credits:
Dan Gold

About Bits of Freedom

Freedom and privacy on the internet are under threat, with far-reaching consequences for the daily lives of millions of internet users. Their data are being collected ever more frequently and for an ever longer period. Their access to websites can be blocked. It is even being proposed to cut off users from the internet altogether. Meanwhile, the development of innovative services is also under threat.

The coming years are decisive for the future of privacy and freedom on the internet. Now, we need to ensure that each internet user can decide for her- or himself what happens to their private data. Now, we have to act to make sure that each internet user can continue to enjoy an open and free internet without borders.

Bits of Freedom stands up for your freedom and privacy on the internet. We fight for an internet that is open for everyone, where everyone can continue to share information, and where private communication remains private. Our strength lies in combining a broad range of expertise, a constructive lobby where possible, and sharp action where necessary.

 

Check out our latest annual report to learn more (2019.bitsoffreedom.nl)

The organization

Bits of Freedom combines a unique and effective blend of technological and legal expertise to work on topics such as profiling, encryption, copyright reform, dragnet surveillance, and the Dutch hacking law. Bits of Freedom's volunteers have initiated long-running empowerment projects such as the Privacy Café and the Internetvrijheid Toolbox (internet freedom toolbox).

As one of the founding members of European Digital Rights (EDRi), Bits of Freedom supports EDRi’s advocacy and campaign work in Brussels and contributes to long-term strategy on a European level. In addition Bits of Freedom stimulates the development of a strong European network of digital rights organisations through the sharing of expertise, development of tools and by chairing the EDRi network working group.

The people

The core team of Bits of Freedom consists of Evelyn Austin (director), Rejo Zenger and Lotte Houwing (researchers), Esther Crabbendam (campaigner) and Inge Wannet (office manager).

The executive board of the foundation consists of Lonneke van der Velden (Postdoc at the DATA-ACTIVE project at University of Amsterdam), Wiens van Asselt (former governmental financial policymaker, currently bell ringer at the Grote Kerk van Edam), Judith Blijden (consultant at PBLQ), Marjolein Lanzing (PhD candidate at the TU/e) and Janine Huizenga (Head of Interactive/Media/Design at the Royal Academy of the Arts).

Contact

You'll find our contact detailsContact details of all team members on another page. An English speaking requestWould you like us to speak somewhere? We're happy to help form is also available.

Projects

Get to know what projects we are currently working on, what our goals are and how we want to achieve them.

 

Dossier

Net neutrality

If you get access to the internet, you should get access to the entire internet. You, and not your internet provider, should get to decide what you do on the internet. Bits of Freedom has been advocating for strong protection of net neutrality in law for nearly a decade now.

Dossier

Dragnet surveillance for secret services

People don’t want a dragnet cast over their online communication inhibiting their freedoms and have requested an advisory referendum. Soon Dutch citizens will be able to voice their opinion on the most controversial surveillance law in the Netherlands.

Dossier

Police hacking

The Dutch government has proposed that the police should be allowed to hack into mobile phones and computers, even when these are located abroad. This proposal has been passed in the Lower House and now lies before the Senate. While this appears to be a powerful asset for law enforcement, in reality it creates unnecessary vulnerabilities for citizens.

Dossier

Lobby-tomy, an insider’s view of lobbying

The new European data protection regulation is the most lobbied piece of legislation in Europe thus far. That’s why we used the Dutch freedom of information act to ask the government to publicize all the lobby documents they received on this new law. We published these documentsHere you can find the original documents with our analysis in English in a series of blogs. What parties did lobby? What did they want? And what does that mean for you?

Dossier

Big Brother Awards

Every year, the Big Brother Awards pays tribute to the creme de la creme of privacy offenders. Individuals, corporations and governments who have distinguished themselves the past year by grossly infringing on citizens’ privacy and freedom have a shot at taking home either the Audience Award or the Expert Award. Hereby Bits of Freedom adds a part in a beautiful international tradition.

English blogposts

You can also follow our English posts with RSSThe RSS feed for our English blogposts.

 

DOSSIER: Kunstmatige intelligentieDOSSIER: Jouw data

Algorithms need managers, too

During my internship at Bits of Freedom, I researched the use of algorithms for detecting fake news. These are my most important findings.

DOSSIER: Geheime diensten

Update on the Dutch “Dragnet-Act”: One step forward, two steps back?

The Amendment Act to the Dragnet-Act passed the Senate. The improvements therein do not go far enough, but they are in the right direction. The newly acquired safeguards must not be overturned.

DOSSIER: Platformen

Facebook’s dominance makes it difficult to question the truth

Whoever directs our public debate directs us in our thinking, in our worldview and in our truth. This is why it is so harmful we are dependent on a small number of dominant companies for our public debate online.

DOSSIER: Platformen

How one word took an entire organization off the air

The use of a single word, such as “QAnon”, can be a cause for eternal banishment from social media platforms.

DOSSIER: Platformen

Four measures to limit the dominance of platforms like YouTube and Facebook

Bits of Freedom advocates for four interventions, which should lead us to a multiform communication landscape. An essential ingredient for a healthy public debate online.

DOSSIER: Platformen

Anonymity is indispensable

Would an anonymity ban on social media be a good solution to counter all the hatred on these platforms? We don’t think so.

DOSSIER: Versleuteling

Everyone wants to encourage encryption, except for one minister

An update on the next episode of the so-called cryptowars in the Netherlands.

The Digital Rights Movement Needs To Prioritize Sustainable Working

A lack of attention for well-being and mental health issues can do irreparable damage to our movement and the causes we are fighting for.

DOSSIER: Biometrische surveillance

A testing society must not turn into a society of borders and control

There is increasing talk of measures that allow for selection at the gate based on health data. Can you show proof of vaccination? Then you may pass. Do you have a recent, negative test result? Then you may enter. Are you unable or unwilling to show these? Then you are denied access. There’s an understandable rationale that underpins these scenarios: we want to create a safe environment. Yet it’s causing us great concern.

Annual Report Bits of Freedom 2019

These are last year’s highlights.

DOSSIER: Jouw data

Google seizes crisis to legitimize mass surveillance

By using terms such as ‘anonymized’ and ‘aggregated’, Google’s mass surveillance is veneered with something resembling privacy. But we must remember that Google’s data insights are made up of the data of millions of people who are tracked by Google on an individual level. And often against their will.

DOSSIER: Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming (Avg, GDPR)DOSSIER: Jouw data

Contact tracing apps: all eyes on the Dutch DPA

During the development of the “corona app”, crucial questions remain unanswered. Will the Dutch Data Protection Authority succeed in bringing to light the much-needed clarity?

DOSSIER: Jouw data

Protect our health and protect our rights

Contact tracing apps should be temporary, transparent, completely anonymous, voluntary and user friendly, free of commercial interests, and they should be brought under the control of independent experts.

DOSSIER: Doe-het-zelf

Looking for a privacy friendly tool for your video chats? Try Jitsi.

Over the past week we received a lot of questions about video chatting. Right now, this is the best advice we can give you.

DOSSIER: GezichtsherkenningDOSSIER: Biometrische surveillance

We need to be bolder

We believe calling for a moratorium is not going to help us win the battle against face surveillance.

International

Bits of Freedom is one of the founders of European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRi)edri.org, an association of  forty civil and human rights organisations from across EuropeSee all the curent members of EDRi. Bits of Freedom contributes regularly to  the work of EDRi. Would you like to stay up to date about their work? Sign up for their newsletter, EDRi-gramSubscribe to their newsletter.

 

Press

Want to get updates whenever Bits of Freedom has internationally relevant news?

Subscribe to our English press list.

 

Or contact our press officer

Call us at +31 20 261 8350 and choose option 2 to be connected to our press officer.

 

Our finances

Bits of Freedom strives for a diverse and sustainable mix of sources of our income. That is the only way to guarantee our complete independence.

We receive at least a third of our finances from individual donors (in 2017 it was 39%). In addition, we also want at least a third of our income to come from foundations (42% in 2017). We never want to allow the share of corporate supporters to grow bigger than a third of the total income (in 2017: 8%) and no one single corporate supporter provides us with more than 2.5% of our income. Finally, besides our core financing, we also receive project funding (11% in 2017).

The foundations that are currently supporting Bits of Freedom's core costs are the Adessium Foundation, SIDN, Internet4ALL, Democracy & Media Foundation, Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Funds that are interested to support the work of Bits of Freedom are requested to contact our director Evelyn AustinSend Evelyn an email.

Would you like to become a corporate donor? By supporting Bits of Freedom, you show that your company is committed to online privacy and internet freedom. If you are interested, please read our propositionOur proposition and get in touch with our director Evelyn AustinSend Evelyn an email. See our supporters pageThe list of companies that support us (in Dutch) for a full list of all the companies that currently support us.

 

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Our privacy policy

Bits of Freedom defends freedom and privacy on the internet and, accordingly, operates a clear privacy policy, which applies to all its activities, websites and mailing lists, and no additional terms and conditions.

Privacy Statement

Bits of Freedom has created this privacy statement to explain which (personal) data it collects and processes, and for which purposes.
(Version: 13-12-2019 / previous versions)

Website usage statistics (cookies)

We use the open-source analytics platform MatomoWhat is Matomo? (formerly Piwik) to keep track of website usage. We do this by placing two analytical (first-party) cookies:

  • _pk_id: generates a unique number to distinguish one visitor from another. This cookie is stored on your computer for 14 days after your last visit to the website.
  • _pk_ref: registers what site a visitor visits our website from. This cookie is stored on your computer for 30 minutes after your last visit to the website.

We have taken the following privacy enhancing measures:

  1. We mask the last five hextets of the IPv6 addresses and the last two octets of the IPv4 addresses we collect from visitors (for example:: 2001:db8:7bb:: or 198.51.0.0).
  2. We store the collected data on our own servers that we host ourselves and are located in the Netherlands.
  3. Visitor logs (containing the data listed below) are stored for 32 days.
  4. Our websites will never feature third-party cookies or other trackers.
  5. We not only respect but encourage the use of Do Not Track headers and cookie-blockers.

Through Matomo and the abovementioned analytical cookies, we collect the following data:

  • The unique number linked to the pk_id cookie (see above).
  • Your IP address (masked).
  • Pages you visit (titles and URLs) on our website and the date and time the page was visited.
  • The URL where you clicked a link that sent you to our site (Referrer URL).
  • Links you click on our website that refer to external websites (Outlink).
  • Downloads from our website.
  • An estimation of your location: country, region, city (we don’t collect your exact geolocation).
  • Other data: screen resolution, your local time, website speed, browser language.
  • Browser user agent: which browser you use, your operating system, your device (desktop computer, smartphone, etc.).

We process this data insofar this is necessary for our legitimate interest to analyse the use and functioning of our website(s). Due to the privacy enhancing measures we take, the impact on your privacy is limited and we not ask for your consent.

Donations

When we receive donations, we process the personal data that you as a sponsor provide for the purpose of handling the one-time or regular donations to Bits of Freedom, and (optionally) assigning your @freedom.nl address. In case you have signed up for regular donations, we process your bank account number, name and email address, the donation amount, the starting date and the frequency. If you have indicated you would like us to send Bits of Freedom merchandise to you, we will process your address data for this purpose. We do not store your data any longer than is necessary to process the donation, (optionally) assign the @freedom.nl address, (optionally) send out the merchandise and meet the administrative requirements under Dutch law.

Regular donations / sponsorships

Regular donations / sponsorships are processed through (SEPA) direct debits. We allow our bank, Triodos Bank, to collect the amount of the donation. To this aim, we supply Triodos Bank with exactly the data it needs to collect the sums due.

One-time donations

Single donations are processed using Mollie’s payment module. Mollie needs to process personal data when handling the donations in this payment module. In this context, Mollie’s privacy policyMollie's Privacy Policy applies and Mollie acts as the controller. We recommend reading Mollie’s privacy policy before using their payment module.

Donations made in bitcoin
Any donations made in bitcoin are processed by Bitonic. Bitonic needs to process data when handling the donations in this payment module. In this context, Bitonic’s privacy policyBitonic's Privacy Policy applies and Bitonic acts as the controller. Bitonic, and most likely other third parties as well, will be able to link your donation with Bits of Freedom relatively easily. Due to the design and workings of bitcoin, your donation probably won’t be entirely anonymous.

Transferring the money yourself

You can also make a bank transfer directly to our account. If you choose to donate this way, the personal data necessary to transfer the money will be processed by your bank and ours (Triodos BankTriodos Bank).

The webshop

When you buy our merchandise through the webshop, we will set some cookies to keep track of your shopping cart. These can be the following:

  • woocommerce_cart_hash and woocommerce_items_in_cart: used to remember what is in your cart and whether something is added to it or removed. These cookies are stored on your computer for the duration of the session (so they will be removed when you restart the browser).
  • wp_woocommerce_session_: this has a code that allow us to connect your visit to stored cart in the database. This cookie is stored on your computer for two days after your last visit to the website.

You don't need an account to order with us (you have to fill in your details for each and every order). For each order we store the following information for a period of six weeks:

  • Your first and last name en your company name if you added one
  • The full shipping address
  • Your email address
  • Any notes that you have typed with your order
  • The products in your order, what you paid for them, and whether you used a discount code

We store the details of pending and failed orders for one week, and if you cancel you order, we will delete the information within a day.

Payment for order in the webshop are processed using Mollie’s payment module. Mollie needs to process personal data to do this. In this context, Mollie’s privacy policyMollie's Privacy Policy applies and Mollie acts as the controller. We recommend reading Mollie’s privacy policy before using their payment module.

Free email address (without tracking or advertising)

Sponsors donating €10 per month or more, if they are interested, are entitled to their own email address which if free of tracking or advertising. This service is provided by Soverin and comes with its own set of terms and conditions as well as a privacy statementSoverin's terms and privacy statement.

My Data Done Right

The following paragraphs apply only when you visit and use the tool My Data Done Right:

Your contact details

The contact details you provide when using My Data Done Right are temporarily stored in your browser on your device for the duration of generating your request(s). We don't store your contact details on our servers. If you choose to be reminded about your request by email and you provide your email address, then we store the following information on our servers in the Netherlands:

  • your email address;
  • the type of request you generated (e.g. access request);
  • the organisation you sent the request to; and
  • the date your request was generated.

We use this information to send you a reminder about your request by email. This information will be deleted after the last reminder mail has been sent.

Feedback form
When you fill in our feedback form we will not ask for any personal data (e.g. your contact details or name). The only data we collect is:

  • your answers to the questions (e.g. ‘Did you receive a response?’ Yes/No);
  • the type of request you generated (e.g. access request); and
  • the organisation you sent the request to.

We will aggregate this data and use the aggregated data to assess whether organisations respond properly to people’s requests and meet their legal obligations.

Mailing lists

No-one will be added to any of our mailing lists without us first obtaining their confirmation to finalize their subscription. Each email we send out to our subscribers contains a link through which it is possible to unsubscribe without further intervention. Bits of Freedom itself manages and updates its mailing lists and ensures the security of related software is kept up to date.

Responses to blogposts

Whenever readers post a response underneath one of the blogs on our website, it is stored along with the poster’s IP address and, if supplied, their email address and name. IP addresses are only stored to prevent spam. Only the WordPress users at Bits of Freedom (the permanent staff and a carefully selected set of volunteers) can view these IP addresses. This data is only stored as long as the response in question stays up on the website.

Forms, website visits, emails and customer relations management

If you fill out a (contact) form on our website or send us an email (@bof.nl), the related personal data will be stored and processed for as long as is necessary, depending on the purpose of the form or the contents of your email, for it to be answered or processed properly. In addition, we may store emails we receive if this is necessary for us to properly carry out our regular activities.

If you join a poll posted on our website, your IP address is only logged to prevent multiple votes from being cast from a single IP address. The IP addresses stored in this way are always deleted permanently as soon as the poll is closed.

When you visit our website(s), our servers have to process your IP address to show you the requested page. We do not store your IP address in a log file.

If, in the context of our work, you voluntarily give us your contact details with the aim of enabling us to reach you this way for instance by giving us your business card or by volunteering for Bits of Freedom we may store this data if this is necessary for us to properly carry out our regular activities, which include customer relations management.

For the purpose of managing the contact information of our contacts and partners, we use the open source system CiviCRMWhat is CiviCRM?. We only operate the software ourselves and run it on our own servers. Our contacts’ mail addresses and PGP keyrings may also be stored locally in the personal address books of Bits of Freedom employees. Of course, if requested, we can remove your contact information from our systems entirely.

Other activities

For all other activities organized by Bits of Freedom, such as the Big Brother Awards or other actions requiring the engagement of interested parties, Bits of Freedom collects as little personal data as possible. If Bits or Freedom collaborates with other organizations in campaigns, for example in a European context, it will insist on a clear privacy policy.

Disclosure to third parties

We will never pass on your personal data to third parties, with the exception of the cases explicitly mentioned in the contents of our privacy statement. The only two exceptions to the rule are:

  • If we have explicitly asked for your permission in advance, prior to passing on your personal data to third parties;
  • If we are legally required to do so, and only after we have tried our very best to prevent having to pass on your data on the basis of a legal obligation.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have, among other things, the right to access the personal data we collect about you and in some cases the right to amend it or have it deleted. In certain cases you can ask us to stop processing your data or request us to provide your data to you in a machine-readable format.

You can exercise your rights by sending an email or letter to us with your request; use the contact details listed below. To comply with your request, we might ask you to provide information to verify your identity.

You can find more information about your rights on https://gdprexplained.eu and (probably) on the website of your local data protection authority. You can file a complaint with your data protection authority if you feel we have abused your personal data.

Changes to this privacy policy

We might make changes to this privacy policy. If we change something important, we’ll announce that on our website. The previous versionsPrevious privacy policies of our privacy policy are archived and viewable online.

Our contact details

When processing personal data as described in this privacy statement, Stichting Bits of Freedom (Bof) acts as the controller, unless expressly stated otherwise. Have you just finished reading our entire privacy policy? Then you’re entitled to a free Bits of Freedom webcam cover! Send us an email at info@bitsoffreedom.nll with “Privacy statement, can I have a webcam cover” in the subject line. You will then receive a discount code to order the cover (for free) in our webshop.

Do you have any questions about this privacy policy or do you want to exercise one of your rights under the GDPR? Get in touch! By mail: Bits of Freedom, Prinseneiland 97hs, 1013LN Amsterdam. By e-mail: info[at]bof.nl. By phone: +31 20 261 8350.

No terms and conditions

Yes, that's right: no general conditions. We could write a long piece about the legal terms that you agree with when visiting our website. And that Dutch law applies to your visit to our website. But we do not believe you can agree to our terms, just by visiting our website. This requires more, for example, clicking on an 'I accept' button before visiting our site. But we do not want to ask this of you.

Nevertheless, some organisations we work with appreciate it if we summarize all information about Bits of Freedom in one place. Therefore, we have listed the most important information about Bits of Freedom here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@bitsoffreedom.nllMail info@bitsoffreedom.nll.

The Bits of Freedom Foundation (Bof) is located at Prinseneiland 97hs, 1013 LN Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Bits of Freedom is registered in the trade register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 34121286. The VAT number is: NL808804169B01.

You can donate to Bits of Freedom by transferring money to Bits of Freedom's bank account: IBAN NL73TRIO0391107380. Donations online, via iDeal, PayPal and credit card, are processed by Mollie. You can also authorize Bits of Freedom to periodically withdraw a certain amount from your bank account and you can revoke that authorization at any time. You only need to send an email to info@bitsoffreedom.nllMail info@bitsoffreedom.nll. You only need to provide us with your name, address and account number, and we appreciate it if you would like to indicate why you want to terminate the authorization (but this is not required). Bits of Freedom has been designated a Public Benefit Organisation More about tax advantages aavailable to a Public Benefit Organisation by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration.

We are great advocates of sharing knowledge and freedom of expression. We therefore offer the opportunity to respond to blogposts on our site. Please, read the internal rules for our blogThe internal rules for our blog.

Bits of Freedom strives for the information on its website to be correct. If you find an error, please let us know. You can reach us at info@bitsoffreedom.nllMail info@bitsoffreedom.nll.

The texts and the design of this website are published under an Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Creative Commons LicenseAll you want to know about this Creative Commons license. If you want to use our brand or our corporate identity, or if you want to use the texts on our website under conditions other than those of the applicable Creative Commons license, please contact us at info@bitsoffreedom.nllMail info@bitsoffreedom.nll.